A Texas-sized Thanksgiving

The kids and I set out on a great adventure back to Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday.  We left at 5 AM Saturday morning and drove to my Granny's house near Wichita Falls.  It took us 13 hours, but we made it safe and sound.  We visited with Granny and celebrated an early Christmas with her, visited with my dear friend, Misty, while Neil and her daughter played the Wii, and even made friends with some cute little piggies.  Here are some pics of our time at Granny's house.  It was wonderful to see my kids enjoying some of the same things that I grew up doing!

There is nothing like getting to open Christmas presents early!  Here Ella is "helping" Neil with his.

A V. Reader for Neil!

This will be perfect for helping him learn to read!

Oh, she thinks she is something else ripping that paper off all by herself!

A baby for Ella!

Who hasn't tried this one before?!  I think it's like a right of passage into childhood, or something!

Ella was sure she could climb the ladder to the slide all on her own.  Just call her "Miss Independent"!

Here she is with a little help from Mommy!

Playing in the leaves was fun!

Showing sister how to make it rain leaves

Pushing her car up the driveway

Of course we had to take the Spiderman bike!  He had so much room to ride it at Granny's house!

Ella trying to sit on an old piece of pipe.  She didn't quite make it! ;)

Neil and Alyssa playing the Wii at Misty's house.

More Wii action

These pics were from Misty's dad's barn.  Her parents live right up the street from my Granny, so we just walked down there one afternoon.  Neil was so cute with the pigs!

This one was especially friendly!

Too cute!

We left Granny's house on Wednesday and headed to Ft. Worth to visit Lito and Grandma for the rest of the week!  Bobby flew in to meet us that night and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner the next day!  Everything was so delicious!  We made some wonderful memories, and I am so excited that Neil is getting old enough to retain some of them!  Here are some pics of our visit with Lito and Grandma along with a little song I used to sing with my Kindergartners back in the day.
 

Neil and Lito working hard to build a fighter jet kite out of newspaper.

Believe it or not, it actually flew!  Neil loves it so much he brought it home with us and has been trying to get it to fly inside by running under the ceiling fan! :)

Ella and Daddy reading a story

And, as promised, here is the song I was talking about.  I thought it was fitting to add it right before the pics from our "Turkey Dinner"! ;)  It always made my students giggle right out of their little seats, especially the end!  Too cute!  Can anyone out there relate???  I know I sure can!

Turkey Dinner
(tune: Frere Jaques)
 

Turkey Dinner, Turkey Dinner
Gather round, gather round
Who will eat the drumstick
Yummy, yummy drumstick
All sit down, all sit down

Cornbread muffins, Chestnut stuffing
Pumpkin pie, one foot high
All of us were thinner
Before we came to dinner
Me-o-my, me-o-my 

Ella enjoying her first turkey dinner

Judging by that smile, I think she liked it!

Neil and Lito digging in!

Daddy and his little girl

Bobby with his mom, who was also the one responsible for the yummy turkey dinner!

Neil and Lito posing this time.

 Unfortunately, every good thing must come to an end, so at 5 AM Sunday morning we set out on the LOOOOOOONNNGG drive back to Missouri.  We were able to make it back in 11 hours, which was way better than the 13 it took me to get there.  I was able to help Ella with her food while Bobby kept driving, which saved us a ton of time!  It was sad to leave, but we are thankful for the time we spent with loving family and dear friends.  Speaking as someone who spent last Thanksgiving in the hospital having an emergency Appendectomy, this was truly a blessed Thanksgiving.  This time last year, I could never have imagined I would be typing on my blog from St. Louis, MO!  It certainly hasn't been easy, but as I reflect on all the difficulties we faced in the last year, I am ever so thankful to God for where we are today.  I know that, although we miss our family and friends in Texas so bad it hurts, we are right where HE wants us to be, and that is what it is all about!